This is Part 10 of The Story of Beer, our journey through the people, ingredients, discoveries, and traditions that put beer in our glass.

Beer comes in an impressive range of colors and strengths.

Pale gold.

Amber.

Brown.

Nearly black.

Light and refreshing.

Rich and strong enough that one may be plenty.

A lot of those differences begin with ingredients and fermentation.

Why Beer Has Different Colors

Malt plays the biggest role in beer color.

Lightly kilned malt produces lighter beer.

More heavily roasted malt creates darker colors and deeper roasted flavors.

Brewers can combine pale base malt with smaller amounts of darker malt to create everything from amber ales to nearly black stouts.

The ability to produce consistently pale malt improved dramatically after brewers began using coke as a fuel for malt drying in the 17th century.

By the early 18th century, pale ale had entered the beer vocabulary.

What Makes Beer Bitter?

Much of beer’s bitterness comes from hops.

Bitterness can be measured using the International Bitterness Units, or IBU, scale.

A higher IBU number generally indicates more measurable hop bitterness, although the way bitterness actually tastes also depends on the beer’s malt, sweetness, alcohol, and other characteristics.

In other words, the number can be useful.

Your taste buds still get the final vote.

Where the Alcohol Comes From

Alcohol is created during fermentation.

Yeast consumes fermentable sugars and produces alcohol and carbon dioxide.

The amount of available sugar and the yeast being used help determine how strong the finished beer becomes.

Different beer traditions developed different typical strengths, from very light table beers to much stronger ales.

When Brewers Pushed the Limits

Eventually some brewers began asking the inevitable question:

“How strong can we make this?”

Special yeasts and brewing techniques allowed beers to reach unusually high alcohol levels.

Some brewers pushed things even further through fractional freezing, partially freezing strong beer and removing water in the form of ice.

That produced beverages with alcohol levels far beyond ordinary beer and led to some debate about where beer ends and spirits begin.

It’s an interesting chapter in brewing history.

It’s also proof that sooner or later somebody will turn almost anything into a competition.

Temperature Changes the Experience

Serving temperature affects how beer tastes.

Colder temperatures tend to make beer feel crisp and refreshing but can mute flavors.

Warmer temperatures allow more aromas and flavors to emerge.

That’s why a pale lager may be particularly enjoyable cold, while a strong dark ale may show more character when served somewhat warmer.

There isn’t one perfect temperature for every beer.

The beer gets a vote too.

Next Pour

Once beer is brewed, fermented, and ready to drink, there’s still another problem.

How do you get it from the brewery into someone’s glass?

Next we’re talking bottles, cans, kegs, casks, draught beer, and one clever little invention hiding inside a can of Guinness.

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